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Pakistan PM Abbasi arrives in Nepal on two-day visit

Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada and senior Nepali government officials welcomed Abbasi at the Tribhuvan International Airport upon his arrival earlier Monday.

In a statement, the Pakistani Foreign Office said that Abbasi is paying a visit to Nepal as part of Pakistan’s pro-active and outreach efforts to engage with regional countries.

The office said that Abbasi’s visit will provide an opportunity to further expand and strengthen bilateral relations with Nepal across all areas of mutual interest including trade, education, tourism, defence and people to people contacts.

Abbasi is the first high-level foreign dignitary to visit Nepal after the inauguration of the new government under the leadership of K.P. Sharma Oli on Feb. 15.

Abbasi and Oli will hold a meeting on bilateral ties later on Monday, according to the Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Diplomatic sources said that the two prime ministers will discuss about holding the 19th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which was scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November 2016, but cancelled after India and three other SAARC member states announced to boycott the meeting. Since then the SAARC Summit has not been held.

Nepal is currently the chair of the eight-member SAARC comprising Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.